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It was therefore determined to remove the child from the neigh-
bourhood of Karlsruhe. Just at this time a new peril alarmed
the conspirators. The peasant girl whose illegitimate infant, after
being poisoned, was substituted for the Crown Prince, began to
be troubled in her mind concerning the fate of her offspring, and
as she had taken an oath of secrecy in return for the rich pay-
ment she had received from the unknown party, she dared not
make public inquiry, and therefore endeavoured to quiet her con-
science by confessing the whole story to her parish priest, a
certain Herr Dietz, of Karlsruhe. He was better able than his
Jenitent to understand the drift of the transaction, and he did not
scruple to break the seal of confession so far as to intimate in the
right quarter the extent of his discoveries.
The result was that he joined the conspirators, and through the
nterest of Margrave Ludwig was promoted at once (although he
had been only two years a priest) to the important parish of
Hochsal, near Lauffenburg on the Rhine, in return for which
favour he agreed to take charge of the royal child, and keep its
2xistence a profound secret.
Some time afterwards this priest, being at a peasant wedding in
Beuggen, and having partaken freely of the good wine served at
the feast, lost command of his discretion and told the whole story
of the hidden Prince to two other priests named Engesser and
Eschbach. Engesser repeated the secret soon afterwards to still
another priest named Demeter of Sasbach, who informed Mar-
grave Ludwig of the discovery.
It remained only to silence the tongues of these dangerous
men by sufficient bribes, and the after career of the previously
insignificant priests explains their acquiescence in the plot. Dr.
[gnaz Demeter, pastor of the village church of Sasbach, became
successively a Knight of the “Order of the Zahringen Lion”
(founded by Grand-Duke Karl in 1812), Ecclesiastical Cabinet
Councillor, Dean of the Cathedral of Freiburg, Archbishop of
Freiburg, Commander of the Order of the Ziahringen Lion. His
elevation to the Archbishopric was not effected without much
Intrigue, especially on the part of Margrave Wilhelm, the second